R800m flattens any Y2K bugs
BANKING
By LUCIENNE FILD
MILLENNIUM bug. What millennium bug?
SA banks achieved such a smooth transition into the new millennium that customers could be forgiven for wondering what the Y2K hype was all about.
But it is small wonder. The four big banks spent almost R800-million over the past four years in their quest for Y2K readiness.
If you accessed your account via an ATM or the Internet after midnight last Friday, you would have found that the millennium bug did not gobble up your cash, and that your mini-statement reflected the correct balance. This could have been slightly embarrassing if you had just about emptied your bank account expecting the system to collapse on January 1. Credit card point of sales were also working normally.
In fact, ATMs across the country were better stocked and more than usually efficient over the four-day New Year's weekend. Never before have banks been so obsessed with providing a hassle-free service.
And when banks opened for business for the first time this year on Tuesday, there were no noticeable Y2K-related glitches.
Claire Gebhardt-Mann, spokesperson for the SA Banking Council, says the transition was a nonevent only because banks spent so much money, time and effort on upgrading systems.
"Banks are the lifeblood of the economy and, therefore, had to err on the side of caution," says Gebhardt-Mann.
Ray Holtshousen, director of Standard Bank's IT department, says every cent used to achieve Y2K compliancy was money well spent.
"If we didn't, we know the bank would not have been operational today," he says.
Eddie Blight, Y2K project director at FNB, says the money invested in the bank's systems ensured the safety of funds.
"The fact that we have come through so well shows what a good job was done by our technical staff," says Blight.
Christo Wiese, registrar of banks, praised the banks. "They have done a sterling job. Everything went according to plan."
Despite all the work, banking officials still waited with bated breath as 2000 rolled around.
Officials were greatly relieved when their systems around the country recognised the date change and processed transactions as usual.
Peter Weeks, general manager of Nedcor's Y2K programme, stood on the computer bridge as the systems took operations into the new millennium.
"It was quite amazing. Everything worked perfectly," says Weeks.
He says when the bank's ATMs were scanned just after midnight, only one out of 900 was down.
Gebhardt-Mann says at four minutes into the new millennium Saswitch reported that ATM and credit card transactions were going through smoothly.
Just after midnight some 371 credit card transactions and 161 ATM transactions had been processed successfully. Within half an hour 1 000 ATM transactions and 3 000 credit card transactions had been processed.
It also seems that the banks did convince customers that there was no need to empty their accounts before January 1.
While the total cash demand in the run-up to 2000 was slightly up compared to the same time last year, it wasn't extreme and it was nowhere near projections.
The Reserve Bank had R30-billion on standby, but none was needed. The money will now be used to replace worn notes.
Nick Cairns, Absa's head of media relations, says only 10 out of more than 2 000 ATMs had run out of cash at the start of the new millennium - better than usual.
Absa, like the other banks, experienced lower demands for cash than over the Christmas weekend. "Clients obviously accepted our assurance that it would be business as usual," says Cairns.
The four big banks reported that their call centres were handling normal volumes and only isolated Y2K queries.
It is still too soon, however, for the banks to relax fully. There is the January month end, and the end of the tax year on February 29, when banks send out interest certificates, to get through.
The fact that this is a leap year seems to be of little concern.
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